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Voter response mailer toolkit

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Election offices create a lot of voter-facing materials. Some of those materials educate and inform voters. Others are forms to collect information from voters. 

But some of your most important communications do both at once. They notify a voter about an issue and ask them to respond. Examples include ballot cure, list maintenance, and permanent vote by mail. 

We call these voter response mailers. 

From our research, we know that if voters don’t understand what’s being asked or why it matters, they don’t respond. And that creates more work for your office.

This toolkit includes templates and design guidance to make voter response mailers that are clear, actionable, and effective. And most importantly, inspire voters to take action.

What is a voter response mailer?

Voter response mailers share a few key features. They are:

• Sent by mail (or by email)
• Specific to the voter
• A notice to inform the voter
• A form to gather info needed by the elections office where non-response has meaning
• Timely

From the voter’s perspective, these voter response mailers ask questions like:

• There’s an error on your ballot. Can you help us fix it?
• Do you still want to vote this way?
• Do you still live at this address?

What is NOT a voter response mailer?

• Forms with instructions like a voter registration form. Instead, use our Creating accessible forms for print and PDF toolkit.
• Letters that inform a voter without asking for a response. Learn more about using plain language to inform voters. 

What is included in the toolkit?

• Design Guidelines for combined form and notices — coming Spring 2026
• Additional templates for other voter response mailers — coming Spring 2026

Who is this toolkit for?

This toolkit is for election offices of any size to design voter response mailers. Use the templates as a starting point and customize them for your jurisdiction.

Tell us what you think

This year, we’re working to share tools that you can use immediately to make more effective voter-facing materials.

We’re building this toolkit in the open and want your input. Have feedback on the templates? A use case we’re missing? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at hello@civicdesign.org